When Cultures Collide

PROF PAPIYA DE

FTMBA/ INTERCULTURAL & STRATEGIC COM/TRIM V/PD

Dollar Disney or Euro Disney?
Building Euro Disneyland

 4460 acres of farmland 20 miles east of Paris

 $2.5 billion needed to build the park (largest FDI ever)
 Expected to attract 10 million visitors a year
 Expected to generate 28,000 jobs
 Senior management team largely Americans
Cultural Imperialism

 Described as a “cultural Chernobyl”

 “Stifling individualism and transforming
children into consumers”
 Farmer protests
 Located in a communist dominated
labour federation, the union resisted the
bill to establish flexible work hours
 The company launched aggressive
community relations programme, a
rarity in France were looked upon as
seduction
Food for thought

 Determinedly American in theme

 Alcohol ban despite the French belief that wine with a meal is God-
given
 Food offerings were essentially American, except inside Fantasyland
 Silverware weren’t provided
Disney’s Appearance Code
 “Howdy” sounded “Audi” Corporate sponsor Renault took
offence
 A handbook of detailed rules on acceptable clothing,
hairstyles, jewelery amongst other things, embroiled the
company in a legal and cultural dispute
 Criticism over insensitivity to French culture, individualism and
privacy
 Required men’s hair to be cut above the
collar and ears with no beards or
moustaches and tattoos to be covered
 Employees have to always smile
Opening Day at Euro Disney

 On April 12, 1992, the opening day at Euro Disneyland

France-Soir predicted Disney dementia, warning of
chaos on the roads and that people might be turned
away
 A government survey indicated that half a million might
turn up with 90,000 cars
 By lunchtime the car park was just half full suggesting an
attendance below 25000
Hofstede’s dimensions
France
 Power Distance: High 68
 Individualism: High 71
 Feminine 43
 Uncertainty avoidance: High 86
 Long-term orientation: low
The United States
 Power distance: low 40
 Individualism: High 91
 Masculine 62
 Uncertainty avoidance: low 46
 Long-term orientation: low
Getting to know other cultures
Cultural Barriers

 Attitude
 Perception
 Stereotypes
 Interpretation
Attitude

 If they want to do business with me they will have to adapt to my

culture
 It is impossible to generalize about cultures – there are so many
differences
 Intercultural training just confirms stereotypes
 What I need when I go abroad is a list of sos and don’ts
Perception
 People perceive the same
thing in different ways
 The way we perceive is often
culturally determined
Stereotypes
Interpretation

 Perception checking: first describe what you thought the other

person meant and ask if that interpretation is correct

 Listening effectively

 Give feedback
Where to look?

 Members of that culture

 An outsiders view: someone who has spent considerable time in that
culture but not a native member
 Fiction: books and movies
 How they define themselves
 Publications they have created themselves
 Commercials and advertisements
Break the cultural barrier

 Probe how people think and know

 Probe if doing is important or achieving
 Probe what is the Big Picture
 Probe the Self
 Probe how social organizations function
 Probe the usage of time
How do people know things

 Does knowledge come from concepts or experience?

 Does learning come from asking questions or mastering received
wisdom?
 Does knowledge have limits?
 How do people reason?
How do people reason

East West
 Uses a pattern of logic  Uses cause and effect logic
 Contrasts elements  For every action there is a
reaction
 Looks for links to the wholeness
of life  Attempts to answer the why
 Circular -- holistic question
 Linear
Doing and Achieving

 Is doing important or is being important?

 Are tasks done sequentially or simultaneously?
 Do results or relationships take priority?
 Is uncertainty avoided or tolerated?
 Are rules to be followed or bent?
The Big Picture

 Do humans dominate Nature or Nature dominate humans?

 Are divine powers or humans at the center of events?
 How is time understood, measured and kept?
 Is change positive or negative?
The Self

 The Basic Unit of Society: The individual or the Collective?

 Obligations and Indebtedness: Burdens or Benefits?
 Is seniority valued or discounted?
 Are women equals or subordinates?
Social Organizations

 Group membership temporary or permanent?

 Communicating to give or save face
 Communicating to display emotion
 Communicating about shame or guilt
 Form: Important or untrustworthy
 Personal Matters: private or public
 Social Organizational Patterns: horizontal or hierarchical?
 Approach to Authority: Direct or Mediated?
Concept of Time

 Monochronic cultures like to do just one thing at a time.

 They value a certain orderliness and sense of there being an
appropriate time and place for everything.
 They do not value interruptions. Example: USA, Germany, UK,
Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, the Baltic States, Australia, New
Zealand, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Northern
France and North Russia
 Polychronic cultures like to do multiple things at the same time.
Example: Arab countries, Latin America, China